Since Hurricane Katrina stormed through the Gulf of Mexico, most of the concerns about oil and natural gas production have centered on the damaged offshore production platforms and drilling rigs. But in the short-term, that’s not the most important part. Producers are contending with a lack of communication services, not enough surveillance aircraft, and above all, lost employees, most of whom are focused on their own survival and that of their families and homes in the New Orleans area.

Chevron Corp., which estimated it has about 3,000 employees in those areas hardest hit by Katrina, began running radio and television commercials throughout the Gulf Coast region with toll-free telephone numbers to encourage affected employees in Louisiana, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida to call the company to let it know of their current situations.

“Securing the health and well-being of our employees is our first and highest priority,” said Chevron Vice Chairman Peter Robertson. “We are taking every available means to reach our employees in the impacted areas, all of which are experiencing communications challenges due to the storm.”

Diamond Offshore Inc. spokesman Les Van Dyke told NGI, “The real struggle here and the tragedy isn’t the equipment, but the people who work on these rigs who were on shore and had their homes impacted and their families.”

ExxonMobil also has established a toll-free assistance line for employees ((877-294-8617). For employees impacted by the hurricane the company is offering interest-free emergency loans, advances in salary, paid time off to attend to personal needs, and access to temporary transportation assistance. ExxonMobil also said it was increasing its contributions to the hurricane assistance fund to $7 million. It previously had pledged $2 million.

Instead of the usual quick rebound in production once the storm has passed, tallies of lost Gulf natural gas production have been stuck in the 80% range for the past few days. The total shut-in production went from an estimated 8.3 Bcf/d reported Tuesday by the U.S. Minerals Management Service to 8.8 Bcf/d Wednesday and 7.9 Bcf/d Thursday, out of an estimated 10 Bcf/d average production.

Katrina, which struck at the center and the bedrock support of the oil and gas industry, was having an impact like no other storm.

Even if the employees are located and even if the offshore platforms and rigs are operational, energy companies with processing units in the Louisiana parishes of Plaquemines and St. Bernard face continuing flooding problems in the facilities. Venice, LA, which is located in the Plaquemines Parish, took a direct hit from Katrina under 150-mile-an-hour winds.

Venice is the hub for several natural gas processing facilities, including plants operated by Enterprise Products Partners LP and Shell Oil Co. According to bloggers — one of the only sources of information in the region — Venice was entirely flooded during the storm, with 90-95% of the buildings swamped.

Enterprise, a midstream company, said Thursday a preliminary assessment of the damage done by Katrina found that eight of its 11 natural gas processing plants on the Gulf Coast were currently operational or were expected to be operational “within a few days.” Three of its natural gas processing facilities in Venice, LA and in St. Bernard Parish, were impacted by flooding, but did not appear to have significant structural damage.

A lack of aircraft and a lack of available pilots to survey the damage also is hindering assessments. Offshore transport has routinely been handled by helicopters, but they have also been put into service onshore because of the heavy flooding.

Offshore Logistics Inc. CEO William Chiles said his company was “flat out” of helicopters to use for surveys. His company’s Venice, LA heliport base was flooded, and the company lost 15 aircraft there that could not be moved. There also have been fuel problems — and communications systems are difficult, at best.

When companies do manage to get planes in the air some of the sights are appalling. Surveillance teams for Chevron Corp. flew over the company’s facilities, but it was “more difficult than we ever thought,” said spokesman Mickey Driver. “The roads are out. There’s no infrastructure. There’s no way to sustain anyone with food and water. There’s no power. We can’t deploy people to facilities when it’s not prudent to do so, and in many cases it’s impossible to do so.”

Shell Oil’s Mars platform, located in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon, was one operation hit hard. The field had been producing about 150 MMcf/d into the Mississippi Canyon Pipeline before Katrina. And there also was “significant” damage to Shell’s West Delta Block 143 “A” platform. The platform doesn’t produce oil or gas, but it is a hub for pipelines from the Mars deepwater field. It transports crude through Port Fourchon into the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port’s storage at Clovelly, LA, and its gas pipeline goes to Venice, where one of its key gas processing plants is located.

“Equipment fabrication to repair WD-143 is underway,” Shell said, and it also has teams assessing its Cognac and Ursa platforms. The western and central Gulf assets do not appear to have sustained damage, and personnel have already safely returned to North Padre Island and Brazos in the western Gulf and West Cameron, Green Canyon, and Garden Banks in the central Gulf.

There was some good news, however. ExxonMobil late Thursday said it had restarted operations at Mobile Bay and increased production numbers. “As conditions permit, ExxonMobil continues its post-storm assessment to determine the integrity and operability of our facilities. Early indications are that damage to the majority of our offshore structures in the Gulf of Mexico has been limited (i.e. external grating, stairways).” Also ExxonMobil said its Inland Louisiana facilities were back on line.

And Port Fourchon, LA, which is base for about 75% of the offshore support services, resumed operations Thursday, according to Port Director Ted Falgout. Generators are being used for power until the lines are repaired. Also, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which usually handles 11% of U.S. oil imports, was unloading a tanker on Wednesday at its platform located 20 miles offshore.

The U.S. Coast Guard said again Thursday it anticipates “significant waterways management and environmental cleanup operations.” The Coast Guard did not provide any new information on the number of offshore platforms or rigs damaged, but noted that most Gulf ports remain closed. Joint-agency surveys of the ports, waterways and rivers are underway. There were about 86 vessels awaiting transit to or through the Port of New Orleans.

“More than 100 barges have reportedly sunk, or are aground south of New Orleans, and the majority of buoys and other kinds of navigational markers are off station throughout the Gulf Coast,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. Ports of New Orleans, Gulfport, Pascagoula, and Destin/Panama City are closed. The ports of Pensacola and Mobile are open only to vessels with a 12-foot draft or less.

Apache Corp. lost eight of its production platforms in Hurricane Katrina, and a company spokesman said it will take time to assess all of the damage before issuing a full report. Aggregate gross production from the platforms before the storm totaled 7,138 bbl/d of oil and 12.1 MMcf/d of natural gas.

Apache platforms lost to the storm were Main Pass 312-JA; South Timbalier 161-A; South Pass (SP) 62-A; SP 62-B; West Delta 103-A; WD 103-B; WD 104- C; and WD 133-B. A detailed inspection of damage to other facilities is underway. Apache personnel have begun the process of restoring production as pipeline and processing facilities become available, which may take some time.

El Paso Corp. said some compressor stations located south of New Orleans will need to be repaired. Flyovers indicated there were “definitely damaged facilities,” said spokesman Joe Hollier. There also was flooding and some debris at El Paso’s Toca, Olga, Leeville and Point Sulfur stations in Louisiana, which gather and pump gas at intervals along the company’s Southern Natural Gas and Tennessee Gas pipelines. Damages to the stations reduced gas shipments on El Paso’s 8,000-mile Southern system stretching from Texas to South Carolina by 19%, and by 15% on its Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

“Limited resources and challenging logistics are hampering efforts to access and fully inspect offshore pipeline facilities at this early stage,” El Paso said in a statement.

Midstream operator Enterprise Products Partners LP said three of its 11 natural gas processing facilities, the 60.3%-owned Toca (160 MMcf/d), 29.4%-owned Yscloskey (1,850 MMcf/d) and 13.1%-owned Venice (810 MMcf/d) plants, were impacted by flooding, but did not appear to have significant structural damage. The Yscloskey and Toca plants are located in St. Bernard Parish, which was devastated in the storm.

“Based on initial onsite inspections, we believe the Toca facility, which is operated by Enterprise, could be operational within a few weeks after the flood waters recede,” the company said in a statement. “Onsite inspections are required to fully assess the status of the Yscloskey and Venice plants.” Both of these plants are operated by a third party.

Three of Enterprise’s five natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionators and its propylene fractionator in Louisiana are currently operational or expected to be operational within a few days. Enterprise also has completed initial onsite inspections of its 100%-owned Norco fractionator, and it expects that it will be operational within a few weeks. The 13.1%-owned VESCO NGL fractionator, which is adjacent to the Venice natural gas processing plant in Louisiana, was also impacted by flooding and will require further inspection by the third party operator.

“We have performed onsite or aerial inspections of the partnership’s seven offshore platforms, including the Marco Polo, Viosca Knoll, Garden Banks and Falcon Nest platforms, and have not detected any material damage,” Enterprise said. “Our large platforms at Ship Shoal 332, which are the initial injection point for the Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline System and an intermediate injection point for the Poseidon Oil Pipeline, are fully operational.”

Enterprise’s NGL storage facilities in Louisiana also are fully operational. The partnership’s natural gas and NGL storage facilities near Hattiesburg, MS did not suffer any damage, but have been affected by a power outage. Once power is restored, which is expected “in a few days,” the facility is expected to be operational. “Until power is restored, one of the natural gas storage facilities is limited to making withdrawals of gas for deliveries to pipelines.” Enterprise said that it has been able to use its integrated system to provide NGL products from its complex at Mont Belvieu, TX to industrial consumers in Louisiana, where traditional NGL supplies have been disrupted.

Noble Energy Inc. said it has completed a survey of the company’s platforms, and said there was no major damage except for the Main Pass area where the company’s 306D platform was lost in the storm. Prior to the hurricane shut-in, Main Pass 306D was producing 410 boe/d net. The company has resumed operations in the Gulf of Mexico with total net production currently at 52% of pre-storm levels.

Noble’s net production is expected to reach approximately 75% of pre-storm levels by early next week. Resumption of remaining production will depend on the results of additional damage assessments, and the restarting of pipeline and other facilities not operated by the company, it said. Noble’s net Gulf production averaged 26,000 boe/d in June and July, or about 16% of its total net production at the end of the second quarter.

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